‘Mummy wants a boob job for Christmas’: Inside the life of a professional Santa
When a chatty little girl visited Father Christmas, the last thing Paul Haslam expected to be on her wish list was a boob job.
“They were two sisters, about two and five, and the older one was doing all the talking,” the professional Santa Claus tells Sky News.
A Barbie dreamhouse, some Teletubbies toys and sweets were all on the five-year-old’s Christmas list.
“I said to her, ‘Thank you, is that all?’ And she thought for a moment and went: ‘Mummy wants a boob job’,” he says, laughing.
“You should have seen the dad’s face.”
Paul has been working as Santa for 16 years, a side hustle he started after spotting a poster in his local garden centre recruiting a “tubby guy to come work for us in four weeks in December”.
“I thought it sounded like a laugh,” he says. “The first time I did it I was absolutely hooked.
“I was in the grotto for eight hours and when I came out, I said to the guy in charge, ‘that was so much fun, I should be paying you’.”
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Inside a Santa Claus academy
‘The sack didn’t open’
His career as Mr Claus has even taken him to the stage with Mariah Carey.
“I got a call asking what I was doing the next day, and was told Mariah was performing in Manchester and her Santa had let her down.
“The proviso was, make sure you’ve got your sack – they’re going to fill it with cuddly toys and you and Mariah will throw them into the crowd.”
But when the big moment came, the sack didn’t open.
“The guy who had tightened it was her bodyguard, he was huge, and it took us ages to get it open.”
Paul has taken to the stage with Mariah Carey
‘Sausage factories’
Gary Cordes, a former solicitor, also took up being a Santa as a fun way to fill retirement.
He too started out in garden centres, but says the heavy footfall venues are just “sausage factories”.
“It is about people being pushed through, no time to talk to the children,” he says.
“In one, I was stuck in this windowless room for nine hours and was absolutely wrecked by the end of it. I want to engage with the families, actually have time with them.”
Gary is a former solicitor who found a fun way to fill retirement
Similarly, Paul says he once worked in a venue that told him he had to get each family in and out in 30 seconds.
“They just wanted to take people’s money and get them out.”
Gary now works at larger venues, including recently at the O2 Arena during Disney On Ice, as well as working corporate events.
“I love to interact with the kids, I try and move around the room or sit on the floor in front of the fireplace. They don’t often expect Santa to move around,” he says.
Gary working as Santa at the O2 Arena
‘My son thinks I am helping Santa’
Simon Young is young in every sense – at 37, he’s on the lower end of the age scale to work as a Santa. But when their existing Santa dropped out two years ago at Reuthe’s The Lost Garden Of Sevenoaks, he agreed to be a last-minute replacement.
“Because Santa is usually quite old, as you go into winter that can be quite unreliable with dropping out because of flu, or illness, and that’s what happened to us. We had three days to find someone.”
Simon has five children, aged from six to 16, and his youngest still believes in Father Christmas
“He knows I am Santa but thinks that the real Santa asked me for help to see the children here. He thinks the real Santa comes to see me, drops off loads of presents and I then give them out to other children.”
Recently, his youngest son came home saying a fellow pupil on the playground had told him Santa wasn’t real.
His seven-year-old was quick to reassure his brother, telling him the child at his school was being stupid, “because where else did presents come from, does he think parents just buy them?”
Simon working as Santa
Hilarious to heartbreaking
Not every child enjoys their visit to Santa, says Gary.
“If they’re not old enough, sometimes they just scream because they are scared,” he says. “So, I just say to the parents, we will have a good chat next year. I don’t want them to have a bad experience.”
They can sometimes come in with a big, long list, and Simon says he will look to the parents: “But I never commit to anything.”
Simon is a former member of the Royal Navy who served during the Gulf War, but says this job is “higher pressure”.
“There is so much weight attached to it, you don’t want to say the wrong thing and ruin someone’s Christmas,” he says.
And not every request a child has is one that’s easy to be filled.
“My first year, second day, I had a little girl who said she didn’t want her terminally ill dad to die,” says Simon. “She had been looking forward to coming to see Santa so she could ask him that.”
Paul grows emotional when he talks about similar experiences.
“I have had children ask if grandma or grandpa can come visit them again,” he says.
“I hold my hand up to them – we aren’t allowed to hug them – and I say that’s not in my bit of magic. My bit of magic is different. But I’ll tell you what, when I get back, if I can find them I will have a word and I’ll tell them you still love them.
“That’s the best I can do.”
Paul has been working as Santa for more than a decade
The cost of Santa’s beard
Being a Santa is not going to make you rich, especially not when you invest in your own costume, says Paul.
His beard is made from the belly hair of a yak and cost him £650.
“I spent a week’s wages on a wig and beard,” he says. “But you don’t do it for the money.”
And while some opportunities can be lucrative – Gary was offered a stint at Lapland for £1,500 a week – Paul has heard of companies abroad offering just £50 a day to Santa and his elves.
“I also did an event with a reindeer – the reindeer got paid more than I did,” Paul says.
“You’ve got to love the job, you don’t do it for the money.”
Entertainment
Former London’s Burning actor John Alford guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15
Former London’s Burning actor John Alford has been found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15 at a friend’s home.
Jurors heard the 53-year-old, who rose to fame in BBC show Grange Hill, sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.
St Albans Crown Court was told he bought £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning, including a bottle of vodka which the victims subsequently drank.
Alford then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl in the garden of the home and later in a downstairs toilet, and inappropriately touched the 15-year-old girl as she lay half asleep on the living room sofa.
He denied four counts of sexual activity with the younger girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to the second teenager at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.
But, after 13 hours of deliberations, he was found guilty.
As a firefighter in one of his most famous roles. File pic: PA
Alford, of Holloway, north London, who was charged under his real name John Shannon, had previously told the court the allegations were a “set-up”.
He put his head in his hand and shouted “Wrong, I didn’t do this” from the dock as the verdicts were read out in court.
‘I didn’t want sex with an old man’
During the week-long trial, Alford, who cried while giving evidence, told jurors “I never touched either of them girls”, adding there was “no DNA” evidence and that he would stand by his denial “until the day I die”.
However, the 15-year-old girl said: “We were all just like dozing off. That was when John started to touch me.”
Asked how she felt after the assault, the girl said: “Sick. I felt absolutely sick. I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”
In a video of her police interview played to the court, the 14-year-old girl said she had never had sex before the night of the alleged incidents.
“I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man,” she said.
Legendary fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died aged 91 – with the worlds of fashion and showbiz paying tribute to a “giant” and a “master of his craft”.
The Italian billionaire died at home surrounded by his family on Thursday.
“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” his fashion house said.
Tributes flood in for Armani – as it happened
“Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.
“Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections, and the many ongoing and future projects.”
A funeral chamber will be set up at Milan’s Armani Teatro for people to pay tribute between 9am and 6pm this weekend.
At the end of his autumn-winter show at Milan Fashion Week in January this year. Pic: Reuters
Armani did not appear at his runway shows in Milan for the first time ever in June as he recovered from an unknown illness.
Only a week ago, when he was interviewed by the Financial Times, he revealed he “oversaw every aspect of the show remotely via video link”.
“My greatest weakness is that I am in control of everything,” he told the newspaper. “Everything you will see has been done under my direction and carries my approval.”
‘A symbol of the best of Italy’
Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni was among the first to pay tribute.
“Giorgio Armani leaves us at 91 years old,” she wrote on X.
“With his elegance, sobriety, and creativity, he was able to bring lustre to Italian fashion and inspire the entire world. An icon, a tireless worker, a symbol of the best of Italy. Thank you for everything.”
At the Royal Academy in London in 2003. Pic: Reuters
Fellow fashion mogul Donatella Versace followed, saying: “The world has lost a giant today. He made history and will be remembered forever.”
American designer Ralph Lauren said he “always had the deepest respect and admiration” for Armani.
Dame Anna Wintour, who this year stepped down as head of American Vogue after 37 years, said the designer “understood power and attitude and elegance as well as anyone ever has in fashion”.
Julia Roberts, who famously wore Armani menswear to the Golden Globe awards in 1990, shared a picture of the pair together on Instagram with the caption: “A true friend. A Legend.”
American model Cindy Crawford called him a “master of his craft” – while the Italian football world also offered its condolences.
Juventus described him as a “timeless icon of elegance and Italian style”.
Inter Milan, who Armani supported, said he was “an icon of our city, a fashion legend who, with his creativity and elegance, knew how to tell the story of Italianness around the world”.
Legendary film director Martin Scorsese also paid tribute, heralding Armani as “more than a clothing designer”.
“He was a real artist, and a great one – people use the term ‘timeless’ quite often, but in his case it happens to be true,” said Scorsese.
Armani contributed to the wardrobe design for the director’s 1995 film Casino, creating suits for Robert De Niro’s character, Ace Rothstein.
The pair came together again for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), where Armani this time suited up Leonardo DiCaprio.
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‘Colossus’ Armani ‘brought gravitas’ to the fashion industry
‘King Giorgio’
Born in the small northern Italian town of Piacenza in July 1934, Armani originally wanted to be a doctor but changed his mind after a part-time job as a window dresser at a Milan store exposed him to fashion for the first time.
As one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, he is often credited with spearheading red carpet fashion and was planning a major event during Milan Fashion Week this month to mark 50 years of his brand.
He put Italian ready-to-wear style on the map in the late 1970s with his signature ‘Armani suit’ before adapting its classic style for women with the launch of the female ‘power suit’ in the 1980s.
He also dressed Hollywood and music stars, including Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Lady Gaga.
Read more:
From Gere to Gaga: Armani’s best celebrity looks
With actors Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton in 2003. Pic: Reuters
With Robert De Niro in Milan in 2000. Pic: Reuters
With singer Beyonce in 2003. Pic: Reuters
With David Beckham in Milan in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Armani, or Re Giorgio (King Giorgio) as he was widely known, worked on more than 200 films, most notably earlier in his career on American Gigolo with Richard Gere in 1980.
He was awarded both the French Legion of Honour and Italian Order of Merit for Labour for his contributions to the fashion industry.
With an empire of more than £7.44bn at the time of his death, his work expanded beyond clothes to home furnishings, perfumes, books, flowers, bars, clubs, and restaurants.
He also owned the basketball team EA7 Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Armani sparked controversy in 2015 for comments he made about fashion choices among gay men – and previously in 2009 when his company was forced to settle with the Italian tax authorities over its offshore subsidiaries.
Entertainment
‘Ketamine Queen’ Jasveen Sangha pleads guilty to supplying fatal dose that killed Friends star Matthew Perry
A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen” has officially pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.
Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement in August, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial.
The 42-year-old , a dual citizen of the US and the UK, has now appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles to plead guilty to five charges, including supplying the ketamine that led to Perry‘s death.
She faces up to 65 years in prison after admitting one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.
In a brief statement when the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said she was “taking responsibility for her actions”.
The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors have said they will ask for less than the maximum possible sentence.
Perry died aged 54 in October 2023. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.
He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally.
Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 (£4,458) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.
Read more:
The Hollywood drugs network exposed by Perry’s death
Obituary: The one who made everyone laugh
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What Perry’s death says about Hollywood
Sangha, described by prosecutors as the “Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood”, is now the fifth and final person to plead guilty to charges connected to the supply of drugs to the Friends star.
The actor’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, an acquaintance Erik Fleming, and a physician, Mark Chavez, all agreed to plead guilty when the charges were announced in August 2024.
Another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, initially pleaded not guilty and had been due to face trial alongside Sangha, but changed his plea in July.
Sangha and Plasencia had been the primary targets of the investigation.
The three other defendants: Chavez, Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty in exchange for their co-operation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Perry had bought ketamine from Sangha after he was led to her by Fleming, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to Sangha’s indictment.
Sangha is due to be sentenced on 10 December.
The other four defendants are also still awaiting sentencing.
Perry was one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing in Friends – which ran on NBC between 1994 and 2004.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for all 10 seasons of the show.
The Friends stars were among around 20 mourners who attended his funeral in November 2023, according to TMZ.
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